Australian Top Gear fans can rest easy- the show’s seventeenth season, which began just over two weeks ago in the UK, will finally have an airdate in Australia.

Today Nine have begun airing their “The best is still to come” promos, which feature a montage of the second half of the year’s shows, including Underbelly: Razor, Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year, Top Design and Bear Gryll’s Worst Case Scenario.

There is also a mention of new Top Gear, though, which tells us it isn’t far away.

It won’t be seen for the next two weeks but my tip is TUESDAY JULY 19 at 8:30, given Sea Patrol has its final ever episode airing the week before at July 12, it will leave a hole in the schedule.

The other possibility is Thursday July 21, given its human body series has its finale the previous week, however Nine seems set on airing docos in that slot.

Season Seventeen episode one features a tribute to the E-type Jag, among other things. It is one of six episodes for the season.

Before its premiere tomorrow night on Ten at 8:30pm, the Can of Worms set has been revealed. Here it is thanks to Can of Worms audience member @thatcarlaK… Go ahead and follow her!

And it seems to have clarified a few points of interest as to its format;

Firstly, it will not be a typical “panel show”, in the way that, well, there isn’t a panel as such. So, it won’t look like a “7PM project” or a “Gruen Transfer”.

In fact, it more resembles a talk-show set, with the clear delineation of “host” (Dicko) and guests.

But the look can also imply a lot about the show’s format. The separation of host and guests could suggest that Dicko will not take as active a role in the debate at hand than first thought. Though one would think (and hope) he will still do more than throw a question at the guests and watch it bounce around.

There’s also a board to the left of the picture- but I can’t discern its purpose yet. Some things are better left as a surprise though.

But that’s enough speculation for the moment- the set looks fairly dynamic but not too overpowering (see: The White Room), and it at least looks different to everything else we’ve seen on the box this year.

It has also been confirmed that there will be a Twitter-stream running during the show – one of my pet hates- you know, it’s just so bloody predictable for a show these days; a show can be “modern” and “hip” without having reams of tweets broadcast on TV.

It would actually be more interesting if the show just relied on the personalities they’re paying to provide the entertainment.

They need to stop cheapening the experience of watching a TV show. By seemingly breaking down the wall between TV land and viewer, it not only ruins the mystique, but also criminally gives viewers the perception that their views matter to the celebrities, when really it’s just being used as a vehicle to make the show seem more engaging.

Now, in this case, I’m looking at Dancing with the Stars and Q and A, so I am holding out hope that “Worms” changes my opinion on this.

In other words, will Dicko and co. read out tweets that even slightly criticise the opinions of the guests, or take a drastically different viewpoint?

If this doesn’t happen, I hope it doesn’t appear again to be blantantly tokenistic.

In other news Dan Ilic, a presenter on the show has tweeted: “Met @Jason_Akermanis tonight.. great bloke… you’ll love him in @canofwormstv tomorrow night on @channelten”, confirming that colourful AFL personality Jason Akermanis will appear on the first edition of the show, along with Meshel Laurie.

I can’t help but feel nervous about Akermanis’ appearance on the show tomorrow. I know he has a (well-deserved) reputation as a shit-stirrer, but for many, he has it for all the wrong reasons.

He is often seen as an old media troll of sorts, with opinions spouting forth from his mouth (mostly about AFL football) with often very little justification, proof and whatever else you need to form a decent opinion.

Yes, he might be a nice guy, but one often gets the feeling he says things because he knows the media will pick up on it- yes, who would have thought people do that?

And though he may be “nice”, he’s not exactly well-liked. Let’s face it, to say he’s left two AFL clubs in acrimonious circumstances would be an understatement.

Yes, put on controversial people, by all means, but in the first episode of a show to put on a notorious AFL loud-mouth… It just seems slightly risky…
(And this is a show that touches on issues mostly unrelated to the AFL, remember.)

But then again, having him in a debate situation would force him to extrapolate on his usual flamethrower-opinion soundbites, and if anyone can bring the best out of “Aker” it’s Denton and co.

Monday night’s ep will also feature George McEncroe and Craig Reucassel, two exceptional guests, if I do say so myself.

But we all know who the favourite is: Manu Feildel. We all know who the best dancer is: Haley Bracken.

They would obviously be the final two, and the only question was: who would make up the final 3 that would go into the Grand Final?

It turned out that Samantha Armytage couldn’t garner enough viewer support to lift her off last place in the ratings.

The final 3 next week will be Damien Leith, Manu Feildel and Haley Bracken.

While Samantha Armytage proved to be a good sport, for her sake, it was good to see her eliminated. The process of the judges tearing strips off her week-in, week-out became not only a bloodsport but also an unwatchable cringe-fest.

Helen tried to be as desperately optimistic and constructive as possible while Todd ranged from savaging her one minute to stating that it was not “personal”.

And criticism of her ranged from the bizarre to the just plain unfair.

Last week she was criticised for putting a George Clooney mask on her partner Brendan during rehearsals. McKenney said this was “insulting” to her partner, presumably because it implied she didn’t find him appealing enough. And while I agree somewhat with this sentiment (think what would happen if he or another man did the same to a woman and tacked an Angelina Jolie face on her head), it was clear that Brendan was not offended in the slightest – and Armytage even alluded to this in the pre-dance package- if he wasn’t insulted, where is the issue?

And also, most of those stunts are cooked up by producers- do they think the couples have enough time in between 9 hour rehearsals to organise stupid stunts like that?

And it was only a couple of weeks before that that her and Lara Bingle were accused of not working hard enough.

Now I can’t speak for Lara Bingle, but we all know that Samantha Armytage has a job most weekends working on Weekend Sunrise. And when you’re being battered from pillar to post no matter what you do, where is the motivation meant to come from to start working hard?

And anyway, when did this stop being a dancing celebrity competition and start being a celebrity dancing competition?

Seemingly, the judges, namely Todd McKenney now demand celebrities to work themselves to the bone in order to become good dancers, so that they can judge them at the level of professional dancers, rather than celebrities just having a bit of fun.

And you may say that the judges know that scathing criticism is more of a ratings-puller that fawning adoration, but you could argue now that the judges are getting just a little bit too caught up in the competition, and less about the fun of dancing.

I found it contradictory that one week, they would tell people to relax and enjoy themselves, and the next, pick apart their dancing, clothing, work-rate, effort, facial expression and pre-dance package comments (see Lara Bingle’s swipe at McKenney for criticising her hair arrangement). How could anyone relax under those conditions?

But in saying all that, the final should be at least decent viewing because the playing field is the most equal it has been all season.

And there are still a couple of interesting questions still to be answered;

The long and arduous process of deciding who should replace Steve Carell in the hit NBC comedy The Office, and it’s firming as James Spader, who appeared as Robert California in the season finale.

However, it seems that he won’t be in the chair for long, as it is believed that he will talk his way to the top and become CEO of Dunder Mifflin-Sabre. This means the actor himself will likely not become a permanent addition to the cast.

So, what to make of this?

Well, many people will at first be disappointed that Catherine Tate will not become the new boss. Unknown to most US viewers, she is a proven comedic performer who became popular in both the UK and Australia for her Little Britain-esque show The Catherine Tate Show.

To many, she was the best- meaning funniest- part of a very dull finale, and many though she would add a different flavour to the show which would give the show- which is slowing in its old age- a new lease on life.

The addition of James Spader was one obviously made because of the fact he is a big name in the TV world thanks to his role in Boston Legal, hence he is also a recognisable face for new viewers to latch on to.

But the decision to only keep him on for a short time is an interesting one.

It has obviously been made due to a combination of factors; Spader may not want to commit to the show long-term. It is also a win-win for the show; as mentioned before, the familiar face, along with Spader’s good track-record will make it more difficult for the nay-sayers to criticize the addition of a new cast member. On the other hand, the flagged early exit will alleviate any of the doubts that Spader may bring. And if he does prove to be a phenomenal success, I’m sure NBC would have a clause in his contract allowing him to be kept on with a pay rise.

And the other reason for the rumoured short term? Possibly because the whole new boss experiment was largely a failure. The finale- despite its big names- was a fizzer. Even the David Brent/Ricky Gervais cameo failed to match the surprisingly brilliant Carell-Brent chance meeting earlier in the season.

Most of the guest stars supposedly in contention for the role were really never “in contention”; Jim Carrey? Ricky Gervais? Ray Romano? Puh-lease…

And now that Catherine Tate seems to have been ruled out – presumably the writers/producers couldn’t get her over the line with the network powers that be.

At least this way, Spader will be able to exit and wrap up that particular story arc without it looking like a cop-out. It will also leave a spot open for one of the established cast to move into.

For what it’s worth, it’s got to be between Ed Helms (Andy) and Craig Robinson (Darryl). Both have enjoyed considerable increases in fame since becoming major characters in the cast (Daryl has moved up from the warehouse while Ed Helms is now included in the main credit sequence).

They will both be looking for pay-rises for this reason, and making one of them the main man would allow for this.

I know it’s crazy, and I doubt they would go down the co-managers route again, but would the show even go with the both of them as bosses? It would certainly test their growing friendship (or “bromance”, if you prefer), and compare their contrasting characteristics well.

But again, they’ve already been down this path in the very mediocre season 6.

Which ever way it goes, it will certainly make for an intriguing season 8. And it will be interesting to see whether the show will benefit greatly from this shake-up or alienate its loyal fans.

It turns out she didn’t, hence they didn’t actually complete the task.

Does this constitute The Amazing Race Australia deceiving viewers? Read on for more discussion or leave a comment below.

(Thanks to commenter MolnarErik for the Facebook tip-off).

It would be naive to think that every reality show is presenting us with an accurate depiction of proceedings, especially when their key aim is to entertain, rather than to be honest, but Monday night’s Amazing Race Australia on Channel Seven was simply a bridge too far.

Take a look at Team Alana and Mel (or “the sisters” if you prefer) having a go at a Roadblock challenge in which they had to land 2 arrows on a target with 40 arrows to use.

And to put it in context, “the models” Sam and Renae were on their tail, having caught up to them despite arriving later.

They are also the last two teams in the race, meaning the last team to arrive out of the two of them will be eliminated (possibly).

So, first Renae (shooting for the models) scores their two arrows.

Then, as they are reading their next clue, Alana is down to only one arrow, with only one hit on the board. If she misses the next one, she will incur a four hour time penalty, meaning the models can streak ahead and pass through to the next round easily.

So, what are the odds, do you think, that Alana- who, out of 39 previous shots has only hit the target once (a 3% strike-rate for those playing at home), while suddenly land one on the very last shot (presumably purely out of sheer will and determination)?

Well, apparently very easily.

But take a closer look.

Here she is loading up (or whatever the technical term is):

After she lets go and the arrow flies through the air, it is clear that it is barrelling downwards, and you can see at this point when it crosses the flag the angle it is pointing.

However, before we see it hit the target from this angle, the vision cuts to another shot of the arrow flying up and then down, perfectly into the board.

And the angle at which it lands in the target is that of one angling downward (indicating a more parabolic trajectory).

If that isn’t conclusive enough, have a look at which post she is shooting from (number 5)…

And which it lands on (number 1)…

… And even the small fact that number 1 is located next to a tree, rather than the flag (seen on the left hand side).

So even if my detailed analysis of the trajectory of the arrow is incorrect, why have they cut to another piece of footage?

But you be the judge; see the vision at the Amazing Race website here and jump to 44:28.

So as a result of her apparently hitting the target, they were able to get the clue soon after the models- and even However, even though we saw vision of both of them in taxis, there was no “overtake them!” screaming, leading me to believe that the models were much further ahead. Similarly, for two teams that were supposedly neck-and-neck, there was no footage of them at the end when the models approached the checkpoint mat.

My guess is, is that Alana did not land the last arrow, and were asked if they wanted to wait four hours and then proceed or concede defeat and wait until the models had registered their place before approaching the mat.

But even if I have made a mistake, it still raises the interesting question, does the amount of licence the director takes make it any less of an exciting race? Just because what you see on screen is not always entirely accurate, does it diminish the show’s credibility as a reality show?

Surely others have noticed examples of when teams seem to be down and out but suddenly find themselves back in the race? Or even when teams are trailing others by a long way, but suddenly find themselves neck-and-neck with them at the end (For example, the episode where Mos and Mo were eliminated)?

Even the editing is sometimes somewhat nauseating, for example when teams are waiting to be given a clue, or an envelope, and the vision cuts to a carefully placed hand drawing out an envelope, making it glaringly obvious not everything is filmed then and there.

For mine, it doesn’t make it any less entertaining, however, too much of it and more and more people will become aware of it, and for a show in its first season (in Australia), it can’t seem as if it is cheating viewers (remember the mild furore that emerged when it was revealed Masterchef contestants have their food re-plated?

And for the sake of a couple minutes more of perceived drama, is it all worth it?

What do you think? Am I right or just a conspiracy theorist? And have you noticed other possible reality warps?

Futurama has been renewed for a SEVENTH SEASON by Comedy Central (according to Deadline). It certainly has come a long way after being cancelled by Fox way back in 2003 after its fourth season. It’s got a long way to catch up to its over-achieving older sibling (which, in case you don’t know, it is the Simpsons, which has a twenty-third season still to come).

However, future episodes will come in a rather staggered fashion, with 13 eps of season six still to come later this year, 13 eps of season seven to come in 2012 and the second half of thirteen episodes to come in 2013.

CANCELLATIONS

This moderately critically acclaimed drama Lights Out struggled somewhat in the ratings, so has been axed by FX after only its FIRST SEASON. It didn’t receive the same level of fanatic adoration as FX’s last cancelled show, Terriers, and this cancellation isn’t likely to incite any riots in the streets. I guess the notion of a show centered around a boxer wasn’t exciting or different enough for most people.